The view from Ascendant Strategy is that there is opportunity to make huge efficiency gains in TradFi based on concepts currently being “tested” in the DeFi world. This is as...Read More
We hear much about the potential issues arising from energy shortages. The potential impact to Capital Markets Post Trade is huge and management committees should ensure that they have considered...Read More
Read James Maxfield’s thoughts on this topic here. This article was originally published in Harrington Starr’s Financial Technologist magazine, available here.Read More
Ascendant’s Alastair Rutherford talks with Harrington Starr’s Toby Babb on their Fintech Focus TV about collaboration in post-trade, and where digital assets might help to reduce inefficiencies in TradFi. Watch...Read More
Ascendant Strategy has consistently found that the majority – at least 60% – of post trade “total cost of ownership” (TCO) across operations and technology for its clients is made...Read More
‘The industry spends $131 billion on post-trade settlement and servicing, driven by stubbornly high levels of inter- and intra-firm reconciliation, a lack of operational scale and an archaic and overly...Read More
One of the fundamental challenges for any organisation trying to understand their digital asset future is how and what they are looking to offer. The emergence of this new asset...Read More
We are very proud to be on the list for the fourth year running! Don’t forget to check out Ascendant’s Alastair Rutherford article on the gritty topic of WHY POST...Read More
James Maxfield and Alastair Rutherford (Co-Chairs of the ISITC Europe CIC’s Post Trade Forum) and Gary Wright (Director of ISITC Europe CIC) talk to Asset Servicing Times’ Jenna Lomax about...Read More
The blockchain/crypto/digital/de-fi evolution of financial services continues to gather momentum – with industry commentators predicting business model disruption that delivers a banking industry that looks very different from today. But...Read More
The pandemic shook off some of the inertia that has dogged the capital markets industry, but many organisations are still hamstrung by the inefficiency of their front to back operating...Read More
Having had six months to digest the policy guidance from UK supervisors around operational resilience, many organisations are still trying to understand what this means in practice. And as importantly,...Read More
As the topic of Operational Resilience becomes more and more prominent driven by Regulators’ activity, Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence asked Ascendant’s James Maxfield for his insights. See the document here....Read More
The evolution of financial services during the last decade was driven by an overwhelming tide of industry restructuring and regulation associated with fall-out from the 2008 crisis. This dominated management...Read More
We are very proud to be on the list for the third year running! See the full magazine here, and don’t forget to check out Ascendant’s Alastair Rutherford on the...Read More
Post-trade transformation still required? Was 2020 ‘Job done’ or just another year of only just getting away with it? What do CXOs need to do in 2021 to challenge complacency...Read More
Ascendant Strategy joined up again with The Realisation Group to take another look – 2 years on – at how DLT technology has impacted Post Trade in Capital Markets. Before,...Read More
Will Blockchain revolutionise the post-trade environment in capital markets? Two years ago we were a bit sceptical… since then things have moved on and we’ve put the team back together...Read More
The economic imperative for collateral optimisation has taken centre stage over the last decade, as the increased regulatory requirement for collateralisation of products has led to higher demand for the...Read More
Given the regulators’ increasing focus on resilience and the relentless economic pressures driving the need for greater efficiency, most firms recognise the need for action. But does the sheer size...Read More
As the world reflects upon the impact of the last 6 months and starts to revise strategy based upon the ‘new normal’ that it now finds itself in, we look...Read More
Is the industry obsession with data as a panacea for inefficiency misguided and distracting focus from elsewhere? Or is the solution more complex than the C-suite are led to believe...Read More
The phrase ‘legacy technology’ often creates negative connotations for the capital markets industry as a whole, where it is perceived as a blocker for change. But what is often misunderstood...Read More
Ascendant’s James Maxfield was requested by the publication to capture his thoughts on Post Trade transformation. This paper was first published in the Journal of Securities Operations & Custody Volume...Read More
Harrington Starr’s recent Financial Technology magazine features their list of “THE MOST INFLUENTIAL FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES OF 2020” – and Ascendant Strategy are on that list. Here is the article...Read More
Ascendant Strategy are delighted to announce their inclusion in the list of “The Most Influential Financial Technology Companies of 2020”. This coveted accolade is published in the Financial Technologist magazine...Read More
Restructuring the business model of global custodians has been compared to changing a jet engine in mid-flight. Whilst the cost pressure on the capital markets industry has been well publicised,...Read More
Uncleared Margin Rules (UMR) have been put in place globally to mitigate credit exposures and reduce systemic risk in derivative markets Firms are required to calculate initial and variation margin...Read More
Many banks are facing the horror of ‘double jaws’ – decreasing revenue and increasing costs – taking some to a cost/income ratio of greater than 100%. With restructuring and rationalisation...Read More
London, UK – 18th July 2019: ipushpull, the live data sharing and real-time workflow automation platform, are delighted to announce a partnership that brings together the award-winning ipushpull platform with the...Read More
Unlocking the Post-Trade Puzzle: New Approaches to Solving the Issue of Operational Costs in the Post-Trade Environment Following the 2008 financial crisis, the US and European approaches to reforming the...Read More
Ascendant Strategy are delighted to announce their inclusion in the “The Definitive List of the Most Influential Fintechs of 2019”. This coveted accolade is published in the Financial Technologist magazine...Read More
Despite the frequent claims that blockchain is a ‘solution looking for a problem’, the past three years have seen nearly all major capital markets firms embarking on some form of...Read More
• Uncleared Margin Rules (UMR) have been put in place globally to mitigate credit exposures and reduce systemic risk in derivative markets • Firms are required to calculate initial and...Read More
An over-riding focus for the last decade for capital markets organisations has been a relentless appetite for efficiency. As the shape of the industry has changed, so have business models...Read More
Balancing regulatory compliance with total cost of ownership (TCO) objectives has been a complex challenge for capital markets firms over the last decade. With infrastructure a by-product of organisational history,...Read More
In March 2017, 9 months after the UK voted in a referendum to leave the European Union, Theresa May triggered the official mechanism for making it a reality – by...Read More
